When I went to get tires on my 09 MGM, I had the shop do a quick inspection, and they found out my car has the common A/C accumulator leak.

The A/C still blows nice and cold. However, after using the A/C, sometimes I’ll notice a drop or two of PAG oil on the ground. Looking underneath the accumulator, one can see all the oil that has collected underneath.

Since it seems like we are mostly done with 90 degree days where I live, A/C shouldn’t be essential for most of the days until the summer of 2021. Because of that, I would prefer to save up to get the A/C fixed until next summer. Not only that, but I would prefer to wait because I’d hate to spend the $300 to get it fixed just to use it a few times and then have an inexperienced sophomore in a $500 Cavalier with bald tires slide into me during a snow day and total out the car. Plus, it would be less salt the new accumulator would be exposed to.

Here are my questions:
1. Let’s say all the refrigerant leaks out in September, and I choose to wait until April or May to get the A/C fix. Could I cause any damage to the A/C system with it having a hole somewhere and having no refrigerant allowing moisture and other elements to enter?

2. I mentioned earlier that I’ll sometimes notice a couple of drips of PAG oil on the ground. The way I understand PAG oil in an A/C system is that in lubricares the compressor, and it travels throughout the entire A/C system. (correct me if I’m wrong). Once it really starts to cool down I a couple of months, I plan on pulling A/C clutch relay so the compressor can’t run in case it runs low on PAG oil. Should I do this now, or can I wait until I’m done with it for the year? I’ve always thought the system will run out of refrigerant before running out of oil, and the compressor doesn’t run without refrigerant. However, I don’t know if in my case it is possible I will run out of oil before the compressor will remain off due to the lack of refrigerant. Especially since I always thought A/C systems don’t need a lot of oil to operate, and my system appears to still have a somewhat decent charge.

3. Should I get anything else replaced along with the accumulator when the time comes? I heard others talking about the orifice tube.

Thanks for reading, and thanks again if you choose to respond.